CAE Picks Up Contracts in Israel, UK

Feb. 14, 2013 - 05:36PM
|

LONDON — Canada-based CAE reported a slew of orders for simulation and training devices throughout Europe and the Middle East. Many of the contracts are from the third and fourth (current) fiscal quarters and total close to $100 million, the company said Feb. 5.

Israel’s Elbit Systems hired CAE USA to design and manufacture segments of a suite of simulators for its Alenia Aermacchi M-346I advanced trainers. Last July, the Middle East nation ordered 30 of the Italian-built jets to replace Israel’s four-decade-old TA-4 Skyhawks.

Elbit Systems is responsible for the M-346I’s overall ground-based training system (GBTS) and is developing it as part of a team that incorporates Alenia Aermacchi, CAE and Selex Galileo. The simulators will be integrated into this GBTS and are to be delivered in the second half of 2014, along with the first M-346Is.

In the U.K., several new contracts build on CAE’s longstanding presence at its Medium Support Helicopter Aircrew Training Facility (MSHATF) at RAF Benson, northwest of London. The facility contains six CAE simulators: three for the Boeing CH-47 Chinook, two for the AgustaWestland Merlin, and one for the Aérospatiale Puma. There are also computer-based ground school training classrooms and a tactical control center.

The U.K. Ministry of Defence has contracted CAE to upgrade a second Chinook simulator at Benson to mirror the service’s latest Chinook HC4 standard, in which the helicopter’s original analog instruments are replaced with a glass cockpit containing four multi-function displays. The simulator will also reflect the more powerful Honeywell T55-714 powerplants installed on the HC4.

A second MoD deal will extend CAE’s current contract to provide ground school and simulator aircrew training services for the Puma HC2 at MSHATF thru 2017. The HC2 is a major upgrade of the 40-year-old Pumas, involving more powerful Turboméca Makila 1A1 powerplants, an improved navigation and communication fit and digital flight control system.

CAE is already upgrading the Puma simulator at Benson to the new standard, with the device due to enter service this summer.

The company also announced a three-year extension to its framework contract for supporting the NATO E-3A Airborne Warning and Control System training equipment at Germany’s Geilenkirchen air base. The base is the site for NATO’s E-3A flight deck simulator and ancillary training systems.